Two of a Kind
by AgentT
Summary: After a backstep, Parker and Hooter must work together without the support of the NSA to prevent the death of thousands
1. Two of a Kind

"Well if my name ain't Frank B. Parker…" 

"Mr. Parker, I assure you-" 

"Yeah, yeah, Olga, I know what I'm doing." He said. He lifted Olga's suitcase. "What do you have in here, bricks?" 

"Souvenirs, actually." She said, smiling. 

"How was the conference?" He asked. "Anyone I know?" 

"It was fine. And if I did find anyone that you knew, you would be the first to know." She said, stopping in front of her door. "Thank you, Mr. Parker. How have you been?" 

"Great. I've been great. Nothing major happened while you were away." 

"I heard there was a mishap during a training session." She said, her expression turning to worry. 

"Ah, Bradley told you. Nothing big, a few scrapes and scratches." He said, shrugging. 

"Really?" She said. "Well I will see you later then, Mr. Parker." She said, smiling. "I've been flying all day, I doubt anyone wants to see me looking like this." 

"You look great." He said. 

"Well thank you." She said, closing the door. "I'll see you later." 

"Yeah, uh, see ya." Parker said, but the door was already closed. 

"Smooth one." Andrew said as he walked by. 

"Don't make me hurt you, kid." Frank said, pointing a finger towards Hooter. He started walking after him. 

"So is the sphere fixed?" Frank asked as he caught up to the young scientist. 

Hooter shrugged. "More or less. We'll need to run a few more tests before we get it fully operational, but it's fine for a training session." He said. "As long as you don't backstep before we make the final tests, we'll be fine." 

"Good, okay. I'll see you later, Hooter." Frank said, slapping him on the shoulder. 

*** 

"Lani, I don't think we should do this." Carrie whispered. 

"Don't be a chicken. I _know_ they're doing something down here." Carrie slowly pushed the door open. She stopped abruptly when a creak started to form. She grimaced as the door creaked open. 

"We're not supposed to be down here." Carrie whispered, pulling at her arm. "You know they'll kill us if they find us down here!" 

"Keyword is if." Lani said. She held up her camera. "I'm gonna get the biggest story this school has ever had." 

"Lani!" It was too late. Lani had slipped inside and disappeared into the dark room, leaving Carrie. 

"Are you coming or not?" A voice muttered from inside. Carrie let out a small whimper and crawled in, shutting the door softly behind her. 

"What is all this stuff?" Carrie asked. 

"I have no clue." Lani said. She took a few more pictures, the flash momentarily lighting up the room. "None of the blueprints show this level even existed. It must've been a bomb shelter or something from World War I." 

"But why would there be stuff down here?" 

Lani shrugged, even though neither of them could see each other. "I don't know…" She coughed. "What is that smell?" She took another photo. 

"Hey, check this out." Lani said, walking over to a bookshelf. She placed a hand on it. "Help me move this." 

"What? No!" Carrie said urgently. "Leave it alone, come on let's go now." 

"Wait a minute, there's something behind the bookcase." Lani rolled her eyes and handed her camera to Carrie. Pulling with both her hands, the bookcase groaned as it moved inch by inch away from the wall. 

"What the hell is this?" She said. She shined her flashlight at the panel, which was dark and silent. A cobweb hung over it and the board was scratched and weathered. A few wires snaked down from the bottom of it, the connector for one section of the web. Half of the board was taken up by a dark screen. 

"I don't know, I don't care. Can we go now?" Carrie pleaded. 

"In a minute." Lani said. She tried to read the text on the panel, it was almost completely scratched off. "Caution: V…Quarantine...." She looked at Carrie. "Quarantine?" 

"What?" 

"It says Quarantine." Lani looked at the bottom of the panel and there were four slots, each having a switch under it. She read the text under each of them. "What the hell? Im…ter…quarantine, vel Quarantine," She frowned. " 100% ra-I think the next letter is a c…or a d?" 

"What does that mean?" Carrie asked. 

"I don't know." Lani said, shaking her head. She unzipped her jacket pocket and pulled out a small ziplock bag. 

"What's that?" 

"Some stuff Pete got for me from the dean's office." She said. "I think the cards that are in here-" 

She pulled out a card. It was plain black, disguised plainly by "Eldridge University" on one side. The other side had a small square chip in it. 

"It looks like it fits perfectly with these slots." She said. Her flashlight flickered and she tapped it against her palm. The beam strengthened and she put it back on the panel. 

Holding the bag in her mouth, she pulled out one of the cards. 

"You're not seriously going to do that, are you?" Carrie asked. "Let's go before we get into big trouble." 

"I seriously am going to do this." She said. "Besides, look at all the equipment everywhere. It's all covered up, I don't think they even come down here. And look at this thing, it's all dirty and scratched up." She looked at the wires. "I'm just gonna see if it fits." 

"It's a card." Carrie said. "It could belong to anything. It could be a library card." 

"Well then we don't have a problem, do we?" Lani said, rolling her eyes. "Pick one." 

"Me?" 

"Yes, pick one." 

"Uh…third." 

Lani inserted the card into the third slot. Nothing happened. 

"I think you have to flip the switch." Lani said. 

"Me?" 

"Come on, just do it." Lani said. 

"You do it." 

Lani rolled her eyes again. "Whatever." She placed her finger on the switch. She hated the feeling of the spider web brushing against her hand. She closed her eyes and pushed it. 

In the distance, a cricket chirped, it's intermittent squeaking echoing through the halls. 

"Okay, see? It doesn't work." 

"Let's get out of here." 

Suddenly, there was a beep and they both turned around to see the black screen flicker to life. 

"What did we do?" Carrie said, about to cry. 

"let's get out of here." Lani said. She tried to pull out the card but it wouldn't work. 

"Forget the card!" She said. "Let's just go!" 

Lani and Carrie raced out of the room and ran all the way down to the end of the hall. Carrie flung the door open and they both ran up the stairs, their shoes echoing against the walls and the metal staircase. 

Down below, the screen they had left in panic had begun to scroll commands. Seemingly random numbers and commands rolled down, the board beeping once in a while. At last, the commands disappeared and the last line of command came. _100% elimination process selected and confirmed. Caution: evacuate premises in 20 seconds._

And with that, a number under it started to count down. 18, 17, 16, 15, 14…. 

"They're going to find out about this, Lani." Carrie said, lying on her bed. She couldn't make herself get up. 

"I know. Tomorrow, we're going back down there and we're going to get that card back." 

"Are you kidding? What if they're watching? They probably already know we were down there." 

"Then it won't matter. If they already know it's us, then it won't matter if we go down again tomorrow." 

"Forget it, you can go on your own this time." 

There was a loud rumbling. They stood up and looked around. 

And then in seconds, Eldridge University was engulfed in flames, each wing of the school was ablaze, everything instantly destroyed. Nothing was left as the last traces of the explosion rose into the air, smoke billowing out and over the trees. 

And when it was over, there was the silence of death. 


	2. Two of a Kind

"Are you sure we're cleared for a backstep?" Olga asked Hooter. He nodded. 

"Yeah, we're fine. The simulations look good, Parker's ready." He shrugged. "Should be smooth sailing." 

"Good." Bradley said as he walked in. "Because we have a situation." 

He sat down as Parker and Donovan exchanged looks. 

"This morning around 3:25 am, a small private college in Wisconsin exploded. No survivors. We suspect a terrorist group known as the Black Kings. They're responsible for many bomb threats and actions against American universities. If you remember the 1992 bomb threat sent to Sanderson College for Women, that was a small but very deadly attack. Unfortunately, we missed the opportunity to prevent that." 

Bradley handed each of them their own copy of the newest backstep. 

"All right. So let's go." Parker said. 

"Not so fast, Frank." Talmadge said, holding a hand up. "There are certain things that we've been warned of also." He glanced at Ramsey, who was glaring at Hooter, who was making bubbles with his gum. "First off, this happened very quickly and it was very unsuspected. No one had a clue that this was about to happen, and the Black Kings operation has so far reacted in panic." 

Ramsey stood up and paced around the room. "CIA and NSA are divided. NSA thinks that they're covering and they're trying to cause doubt within the ranks. The other believes that the BKs genuinely have nothing to do with it. They're claiming innocence, but this thing has their M.O. written all over it." 

"We, being the NSA, have to go in and grab the nutcase before he has the chance to set off this explosion." Donovan said. 

"So let's get this creep." Parker said. "I mean, we _are_ supposed to get this creep, right?" 

Talmadge nodded and the curves of his mouth quirked up a bit. 

"Yes, we are, Frank. But you're going to have help. You can't just walk around a college campus as an NSA agent, you might alert the group, and then we'll lose them. Which is why-" 

He turned to Hooter, who was sitting with his feet propped up on the table, computer in his lap. 

"Mr. Owsley." He said. Owsley looked up. 

"Hmm?" 

"Parker, Mr. Owsley is going to assist you." He said. He chuckled. "We've arranged for you to go undercover as a teacher." 

Donovan was the first to laugh. Then Ramsey, then Olga. 

"A teacher?" Ramsey said. "Parker couldn't teach his way out of a paper bag." 

"Does this count as child abuse?" Donovan asked between fits of laughter. He tried without much luck to contain himself. "You're going to have to do a lot of studying." Donovan turned to Bradley. "What's he teaching?" 

Bradley looked at Frank who sat with a slightly panicked expression on his face. "Don't worry, Frank, we gave you something that was easy. The school counselor has mysteriously come down with a light flu-that is, he will once you backstep. You will fill his place." 

Ramsey snorted. "Parker influencing kids?" He said, shaking his head. "That's the last thing we need." 

"What's Hooter going to be doing?" He asked. 

"Mr. Owsley will be returning to school." Bradley said, smiling at the young man, who immediately showed disdain. 

"Why me?" He asked. "Olga could pass as a teacher." He said. 

"True, but that would require her to be in class all day." He said. "And a prominent scientist such as Olga would alert much more attention than we want. If any of the operatives get wind that anything is out of order, especially if two teachers go sick in one week…you get the idea." 

Hooter nodded slowly. "So what am I doing?" 

"You're a student." Bradley said, handing him a file with his new identity. He handed one to Parker. 

"David Porter?" Owsley said. "I have a past drug problem?" 

"We couldn't have you looking too pristine, now could we?" Donovan said, laughing. 

"Don't worry, your main job is to investigate the students while Parker's away ruining America's future." Ramsey said. 

*** _Please clear main ramp for backstep. Caution, backstep process initiating_

"Counselor, huh?" Parker said, clad in his backstep chrononaut suit. He glanced at Olga on his left and Donovan on his right. 

"You'll have no problem." Olga said. Her smile changed into a slightly worried expression. "I don't think you will, anyway." 

"He'll do fine." Donovan said. "Okay…" 

"Time to go." Frank said. "Literally." 

Olga and Donovan left him to enter the control room, where the rest of the team was already assembled. The sphere room was eerily quiet as Frank got into the sphere. The only sounds were the beeping of his console and the fizzing of some cables. 

"Are you ready?" Hooter asked, one hand adjusting his headset. 

Frank sighed. "Ready as I'll ever be." 

"Initiating countdown." Olga said. "Power is at 86%" 

As the numbers rose, finally settling to full power, it started. 

And in the same flash and the same rocking motion of the sphere, jolting him and producing pain that only he could stand, time rewound, times seven. The days flashed back, and like the other times, Parker didn't pay attention to them, only concentrating on the task at hand. A brilliant glow…and it was done. 

*** 

"Conundrum on line one, Sir." The secretary voice said over the intercom. Bradley cast a glance at Ramsey and pressed the speakerphone button on the phone. 

"Frank?" 

"Hey. I'm in Texas." Parker said, shaking his head. "It's like a sauna down here. Okay, here's the story. A few days from now, a terrorist group called the Black Kings are going to bomb a college in Wisconsin. I'm supposed to pose as a counselor and blend in with the crowd. Hooter's supposed to be posing as a student. The problem is, the Black Kings aren't claiming responsibility." 

"He'll be waiting for you at the Montgomery Air Base a few miles from you." Bradley said. 

A small light blinked on Bradley's telephone. 

"Be careful on the base, Parker. We don't need your antics messing up the military. And don't set off any bombs. " Ramsey grumbled, pointing a forefinger at the phone. Bradley cast him a glance and he retracted the finger. 

"I'm on my way." Parker said. 

There was a click and he hung up. Frank sighed and looked at his surroundings. There was nothing but dirt, weeds, and a road. He sighed. He cast a look back at the sphere behind him. 

*** 

"Hooter, buddy old pal." Parker called out across the base. A few officers turned and one particularly large one looked like he was about to use Parker as target practice. Looking like a fish out of water, Andrew Owsley turned at the sound of his friend's voice and started walking across the large expanse, bag slung over his shoulder and laptop carrying case hanging on the other shoulder. 

"You know how many people berated me for being out of uniform?" Andrew asked, grinning. "I thought I was going to have to pin a sign that said "NSA" to my back." 

"These guys are pretty stiff, aren't they?" Parker said, looking around. "You think they ever smile?" 

"Do you think they know what a smile is?" Andrew said as they passed a group of militiamen who were about the young man's age. Their eyes were unmoving as they passed by, their steps in tune to each other. "Well, professor." Andrew said. "Time to start working your magic on the youth of Americana." 

"Laugh all you want." Parker said. A woman in a crisp business suit came up to them. 

"Mr. Parker and Mr. Owsley?" She said, looking at them. 

Frank nodded. 

"Your plane is ready." She said, waving a hand towards a small white speck in the distance. 

*** 

"Jet lag…" Hooter mumbled as he popped another peanut into his mouth. 

"Sphere lag…" Frank grumbled as he sipped his beer. 

"How come they don't make beds?" Hooter asked, looking around him at the empty jet. They were the only ones riding. 

"I don't know." Frank said, frowning. 

A cell phone rang. Neither of them made a move to answer it. 

"Dude, think you're the one ringin'" Hooter said, closing his eyes. Frank looked up and fished his phone out of his jacket. 

"Yeah?" 

"Frank, we've received an order from the council. We're off the case." Bradley said, cutting to the chase. He sighed and anticipated the next response. 

He sat up, his beer swishing in its bottle. 

"What?" 

"We're off the case. The plane's going to land in Wisconsin, but you're getting on a plane right back." 

"Why? Who's gonna go get the guy?" Parker asked. Owsley looked at him quizzingly. 

"The CIA has taken jurisdiction." He said. "We're off. The council has received a direct order from the president." 

"The president? But why are they taking over?" Frank asked, a bit suspicious. He hated the governmental types. 

"The official reply? 'The CIA was right.' their intelligence suggests that the terrorist group actually doesn't have anything to do with it. Rather they think that one of the rogue operatives has left the group and is acting alone." 

"So because the CIA guys think they're right, they're taking us off." He said, nodding. "Right." 

"So once you get there, there will be a second plane ready for your departure. I'm sorry, Frank." 

Frank hung up and stared at Hooter. "We're going back to Kansas." 


	3. Two of a Kind

  
"Can we leave now? Hey!" Frank shouted as an engineer scooted past him, trying to hide behind a large rack of equipment.   
  
"American tax dollars at waste." Hooter said, observing a group of pilots talking next to a coffee shop.   
  
"Damn CIA." Parker muttered.   
  
"What can I say?" Andrew said. "We've been here three hours and we're still not even close to leaving."   
  
"Yeah. And it's not like we can go look around town….maybe at some colleges."   
  
"That'd be a violation of order and protocol." Hooter said.   
  
Frank frowned. "Right. Bradley would kill us if he knew."   
  
"Or Ramsey." Hooter said.  
  
"Cause we're supposed to be good guys and we're the shining example of America's law enforcement."   
  
"We're the good guys." Hooter echoed.   
  
They sat in silence.   
  
"So you wanna do it anyway?"   
  
"Sure, why not?"   
  
***   
  
"What the hell-" Frank said. They were behind some bushes, staring at the commotion that greeted them. The Eldridge campus was practically crawling with agents.   
  
"I've never seen more suits before in my life." Hooter said, shaking his head. "A bit nerve-wracking."   
  
"So how do we get in without the CIA chopping our heads off?" Frank asked, surveying the area.   
  
"Mmm, there's a blind spot over there where the sprinkler system is. According to the blueprints, there's a door on the other side of the room that leads to the interior. There should be agents inside too, though."   
  
Parker nodded. "There's about fifteen out here. I'm seeing four SUVs. Five or six in one car, there should be about ten agents inside."   
  
Hooter shifted in his position crouched on the moist dirt. "They'll want to secure the dorms first. My guess is that they'll come in all big and bad, making a big noise, and they'll flush the operative out. Look at all the students going inside."  
  
"So they're probably putting the students back into their dorms. And whoever isn't accounted for is their guy." Frank said. He nodded. "Come on."   
  
They cast one more glance at the agents pooling on the lawn and started to sneak to the door. Frank was the first to reach it. He turned the knob and pulled the door open. Moments later it shut with a small click.   
  
"All right, now uh…the door should be straight ahead." He said, blinking in the darkness. The only thing that illuminated their view was a small desk lamp sitting on a rickety old fold up table. It looked like it was going to collapse at any second. Another door to their left separated them from the pipes. 'Lead the way, Camp Leader." He muttered.   
  
Charging ahead, Frank squinted in the dark and tried to find the door.   
  
"I said straight ahead, not to the right." Hooter instructed. Parker turned to look at his friend.   
  
"You wanna lead, Boy Scout?" He asked.   
  
"Just get the direction right." He said, pointing forward. Frank saw a sliver of light peeking out from behind a tower of boxes and walked to it.   
  
"See?" Frank said.   
  
"Would you have found it if I hadn't told you it was right in front of you?"   
  
"Let's just go."   
  
***   
  
"What do you mean, there's an engineering problem?" Bradley shouted into the phone.   
  
"You get Parker back here right now!" Ramsey shouted, though not as loud.   
  
"I'm sorry sir, but the mechanics are working their hardest." The voice said, sounding slightly nervous.  
  
"Where's Agent Parker?" Bradley asked.   
  
"He uh-I'll have someone get on it." He said.   
  
"Forget it, I'll find him myself." Bradley punched the speakerphone button and cut the attendant off.   
  
He dialed Frank's cell phone.   
  
"Oh crap." Frank said as he raced to take his phone out and silence it. They were walking about the campus, avoiding agents here and there, led only by Frank's keen sense of direction and Hooter's instructions.   
  
"Hurry up." Hooter whispered as they ducked into a room to avoid a passing man. It almost became a game. See how many people wearing headsets could be avoided.   
  
"Wonderful." Hooter said, seeing what room they were in. "The computer lab."   
  
"Parker." He said into the phone.   
  
"Where the hell are you?" Ramsey yelled before Talmadge could say anything first.   
  
"Frank, don't tell me you're where I think you are." Bradley said.   
  
"Too late." Hooter muttered, overhearing the conversation.   
  
"We're experiencing some technical difficulties." Bradley said. "Get the hell out of there. If they find you, the NSA is going to-"   
  
"Yeah, yeah, I know. But they're doing it all wrong. You should see this, Bradley. They're rounding up kids like cattle and they've got agents running around with checklists."   
  
"How many of them are there?" Bradley asked, taking a small interest.   
  
"I'm not sure. About fifteen outside, maybe ten inside? There has to be more though. They're probably out in the town getting the students."   
  
"Is Andrew there with you?" He asked.   
  
"Yeah."   
  
"Get him on the phone." Bradley said. Parker handed the phone to Hooter.   
  
"Hooter, I want you to monitor the campus."   
  
"With what? The CIA probably have the security feed locked already, in case the BKs are trying to watch."   
  
"The CIA doesn't believe the group is responsible. They're trying to catch one person. Is there a way for you to monitor through the security cameras?" He asked.   
  
"Well, I suppose…but that would take a lot of time."   
  
"If we shouldn't be there, then we won't. but if we can monitor things from a distance, we will. Get on it."   
  
Hooter handed the phone back to Parker and thought of his laptop sitting in the car.   
  
"Frank, get out of there right now. They're going to get wind that our agent is still down there and they're going to be very mad."   
  
"I hear ya, Bradley." Parker said, sighing.   
  
"Come on, Hooter. Let's go." Parker peeked a head out the door and started to walk back the direction they came from.   
  
He looked back for a second and didn't see Hooter.   
  
"Hooter!" He whispered.   
  
No answer.   
  
Sighing, Parker walked back to their former position and turned the corner to enter the room.   
  
"Aww, geez."   
  
"We're lucky that they turned off the security cameras. If I want to patch into their security without setting off the CIA red alert, then I have to find some way to get inside." Hooter muttered, examining a computer.  
  
"We're inside right now." Frank said. He poked a thumb out the door. "Can we go now?"   
  
"Hold on. I just have to do something small…cause their system to shut down just long enough so I have time to slip in unnoticed."   
  
"Hurry up." Parker said. He ducked inside and the door shut with a click as he heard a few people come down the hall.   
  
"Done." Hooter said. "The wonders of technology. A few broken commands and we're in." Hooter returned the computer to it's former idle state and he and Parker left the room.   
  
***   
  
Sitting in the car, Hooter glanced cautiously out the window once in a while, wondering if the CIA really noticed the two figures in the car, parked in the middle of the parking lot.   
  
"I'm in." He said, nodding. He closed his laptop.   
  
"That's it?" Parker asked.   
  
"That's it." Hooter confirmed. "Now what?"   
  
"Well Bradley says that they're doing their best with repairs, but it'll be a few hours before they even get close to done."   
  
"Let's get back to the air base." Frank said. "We can do more there."   
  
"Yeah, and I don't want to be recognized in this town. There are agents everywhere."   
  
***   
  
"Maybe I should go and help them." Olga said, sitting in Bradley's office.   
  
"They're fine." Bradley said.   
  
"Well if I know Parker, he's either still in there making obscene gestures at the CIA or he's having a beer party with the dorm."   
  
"He's fine. He's got Hooter there."   
  
"That's what I'm afraid of." She said, her voice uncertain. 'Those two are like explosive chemicals. I think they'll be in more mischief than-"   
  
"You think so, Olga? Cause the last thing we need here is another Parker." Ramsey said, shuddering at the thought.   
  
"I'm just saying, Sir." She said.   
  
Bradley nodded. 'I understand, but they're all right for now. If we find something further requiring your scientific expertise, we'll call."   
  
Olga nodded. As she left the room she sighed.  



End file.
